In today’s NBA, the formula for winning in recent years was simple: Accumulate as many maximum-salary stars as you can without breaking the bank.
But when you start piling up eight-figure salaries against the luxury tax, the bank breaks pretty quickly. So teams fill out their rosters with minimum-salary veterans.
And if you look at the top of the NBA standings right now, many teams are getting very productive seasons from veterans signed to minimum-salary deals.
The Chicago Bulls added Pau Gasol to Jimmy

Today the NBA announced that the earth has shifted on its axis.
The long-awaited new TV deal has been disclosed. Although it has been anticipated for a long time, it still makes the eyes water to think about a $24 billion dollar deal. It makes deep-pocketed people all over America think one thing today: Why didn’t I buy a team 5 years ago when I could have paid only $200 million?
With the disclosure of the details of the contracts, many things

We are back with the 2014-15 edition of the Sheridan Hoops team-by-team season preview index.
We’ve assembled a lineup of bloggers who regularly cover the NBA to give us five things to watch for regarding the teams they cover for the upcoming season. You can read them simply by clicking on the team logo or name below.
You can also get caught up on each team’s payroll, draft picks and financial outlooks with our salary cap analysis index.

Hours before the moratorium period ended and free agency began Wednesday, the NBA released its financial figures for the 2014-15 season.
We have taken those figures and – with the help of folks like Larry Coon and Mark Deeks - have laid out the amounts for all of the exceptions and maximum salaries available to players this season.
TEAM SALARY
The salary cap will be $63.065 million. That is slightly lower than published projections but still represents a 7.5 percent increase over last season’s $58.679

The NBA holiday shopping season is upon us a little early this year.
It usually starts December 15, the first day players who were signed in the offseason become eligible to be traded. But after seeing Rudy Gay’s immovable contract somehow sent from Toronto to Sacramento, it is clear that shopping season is under way.
Come next Sunday, NBA general managers will have increased flexibility when looking to improve their rosters, which was Kings GM Pete D’Alessandro’s approach in acquiring Gay, or their payroll,

This summer, when your favorite team’s owner or GM tells you a certain player is financially out of reach, here’s how you know he is lying.
His lips are moving.
NBA business is booming, folks. And not just for the so-called big markets. Take a quick look at the conference finals, which feature four teams from middle to small markets collecting millions for every home playoff game.
Take a look at the Sacramento Kings, who were just sold for a record $525 million

Dwight Howard is the best center in the NBA. Yes, still.
He also is (a) incapable of making an elbow jumper, (b) unreliable at the free-throw line, (c) susceptible to long-term injury, (d) hypersensitive to criticism from teammates and coaches, (e) more interested in becoming the next Bill Murray rather than the next Bill Russell and (f) wondering why no one has handed him the icon status he desperately craves.
But the worst thing Howard is – and unlike the items above,

As August ends and calendars are flipped to September, it dawns on you: NBA training camps will open in a few weeks.
Although the Summer of 2012 will ultimately be remembered for when the Los Angeles Lakers somehow managed to acquire two of the top prizes on the market, there are still quite a few free agents that could ultimately be the difference between your favorite team making a trip to the postseason or anxiously awaiting the results of the draft